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The Impact of the Black Death on Iranian Trade (1340S-1450S A.D.)

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The Impact of the Black Death on Iranian Trade (1340S-1450S A.D.) Iran and the Caucasus 23 (2019) 221-232 The Impact of the Black Death on Iranian Trade (1340s-1450s A.D.) Ahmad Fazlinejad Shiraz University Farajollah Ahmadi University of Tehran Abstract The Great Plague, generally known as the Black Death, swept many parts of the three con- tinents of Asia, Africa and Europe in the mid-14th century repeatedly for decades and in- flicted widespread demographical, social and economic consequences. Contrary to the common attitude of researchers in neglecting the spread of the Black Death in Iran during the 14th century and its relapse periods, findings of this study indicate that the Great Plague, which had numerous victims in Iran, mostly disrupted the country’s commercial relationships with the plague-stricken trade routes and centers. Moreover, due to the tragic consequences caused by the Black Death, Iran lost its position as one of the main routes in the international trade. In this study, based predominantly on historiographical sources in Persian and Arabic, Iran’s position in international trade in the era of Black Death is analyzed. Keywords Black Death in Iran, Iranian Trade, Persian Gulf, Ocean Trade The Great Plague, generally known as the Black Death,1 swept many parts of Asia, Africa and Europe in the mid-14th century. Some cities be- 1 Historians have considered this plague to be bubonic, which is transmitted by a small bacterium called Yersinia Pestis or bacillus transmitted to humans by the fleas attached to the body of rats (Borsch 2005: 2). Symptoms include fever, headache, cough, shortness of breath, vomiting and dark spots on the skin. The most obvious symptom of bubonic plague is the swelling of the lymph nodes in the groin, armpits and neck, which is called “bubo” (Magner 2005: 157-158). The term “Black death” comes from these swollen black spots then. It was first used in the 16th century in the Scandinavian literature, and widely © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2019 DOI: 10.1163/1573384X-20190302 Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 04:05:22PM via free access 222 A. Fazlinejad; F. Ahmadi / Iran and the Caucasus 23 (2019) 221-232 came unprecedentedly deserted or experienced a sharp decline in the population. The successive waves of the disease continued in the second half of the 15th century.2 After the fall of the Abbasid Caliphate, during the rule of Ilkhans on Iran and Mesopotamia in the 13th century, the commercial route of Bagh- dad slackened, and trade between this city and Europe stopped. However, Ilkhans connected the important trade route between the continents of Asia and Europe through the Persian Gulf and Iran’s domestic routes to the Caucasus and the Black Sea and from there to Constantinople and the Mediterranean. Concurrent with the establishment of Ilkhanid dynasty in Iran and their domination over the local rulers, two political factors con- tributed to the commercial boom of the Persian Gulf and its communica- tion role with a wide network of international trade. First, China’s land routes to Iran, i.e. the ancient Silk Road, became unsecure because of the perennial wars of Kublai and his brother Ariq Böke (Hulagu’s brothers) to take the Qaan position. As a result, maritime trade routes between China and Iran became much more important (Xeyrandīš 2016: 98). Secondly, at the time of Ābish Xātūn from the Ata- bakan family, the daughter of Saʻd ibn Abū Bakr (1263-1283), in Fars, and during the rule of Rukn al-Dīn Maḥmūd Qalhatī in Hurmuz (1249-1286), the region enjoyed the security and prosperity (Ibid.: 112). In the 13th century, the Hormuz Island was the center of Persian Gulf’s trade with world’s free waters. About the events of the year 1214, Ibn al- Athīr writes that Hormuz was a great harbour where traders from the far- thest corners of India and China, Yemen and other regions gather to- gether (Ibn al-Athīr 1976, vol. 25: 285-286). At that time, the pearl of the Persian Gulf was famous in the world and, according to Armenian Hetum, it was traded in every country (Hetʻum the Armenian, Book 1, part 8, apud in the English literature of the 19th century (Byrne 2004: 1). Medieval Muslim historians have referred to it as the global plague and the “Great Annihilation” (Al-Maqrīzī 2001: 224). 2 A lot of studies have been conducted on the causes and consequences of the spread of the Black Death by Medieval historians and experts in the history of medicine in the West. According to some researchers, the periodical spread of the Black Death continued even until the 19th century. Several publications examine how the plague was spread through the countries and cities across Europe (see, e.g., Mc Neil 1976; Norris 1977; Bene- dictow 2006; Sussman 2011: 347-348). Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 04:05:22PM via free access A. Fazlinejad; F. Ahmadi / Iran and the Caucasus 23 (2019) 221-232 223 Bedrosian 2004). Kauz (2006: 51-67) has shown that despite the im- portance of Hormuz in the Mongol period, Kish Island still continued to boom. Chinese sources mention the export of pearls, beautiful horses, rosewater, mercury, zinc, silver and precious fabrics to other countries when it comes to speak about the Kish Island trades (Chu-fan-chi 1911: 134). The reports of travelers and historians indicate to the prosperous Persian Gulf trade with the ports in China and India before the Black Death. In addition to Marco Polo who has noted this extensive trade (Polo 1871, vol. 1: 79), a local author also has noted: “The prosperity of Persian Gulf islands, in particular, and other regions of Iran, from Iraq and Khura- san to Rum [Asia Minor] and the West, in general, is because of trade with India and exchange of ambassadors between the countries, etc.” (Vaṣṣāf al-Ḥaḍrah 1852: 301). Ibn Baṭṭuṭa in his travelogue also talks about the im- portance of the city of Zeitun in China as one of the largest commercial centers and mentions the presence of Iranians and other Muslims, espe- cially from the business class, in this port (Ibn-i Baṭṭuṭa 1997, vol. 2: 295- 296). Historians have also mentioned the Chinese ports, especially Quan- zhou, as the home of businesspersons, especially Iranians and the people of Transoxiana (Liu 2010: 124). One of the important points about the role of the Persian Gulf in in- ternational trade of the 13th century is that the major commodities sent from this area to Europe were among international trade items, including silk, spices, pearls and precious stones(Di Cosmo 2005: 397). Therefore, Iran and especially the Persian Gulf became a connecting point between the Indian Ocean, the China Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The main cities located on these important commercial centers included Hormuz, Yazd, Soltaniyeh, Trabzon, and especially Tabriz, which was likened by one of the historians of the time to a goose that laid golden eggs (Ciociltan 2012: 49). Marco Polo mentioned that Tabriz was the city of traders and industrialists where a variety of goods from India, Baghdad, Persian Gulf and other areas were found, and it attracted many European traders, par- ticularly Genoese (Polo 1871, vol. 1: 70-71). Odoric of Pordenone has also pointed out the importance of the commercial status of Tabriz in relation with the Persian Gulf linking it to the European commercial centers (Odo- ric of Pordenone 1937: 215). Venetian documents show the freedom of Ira- nian businesspersons in comparison with the Christian traders who had Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 04:05:22PM via free access 224 A. Fazlinejad; F. Ahmadi / Iran and the Caucasus 23 (2019) 221-232 restricted freedom of action in the territories under Mamluk domination (Anvar/Roušanī-Zaʻfarānlū 1973: 12-13). Thus, due to the boom in globe trade in the 13th century and the for- mation of centers of maritime trade in East and West, as well as the es- tablishment of the vast empire of the Mongols and their desire to make contact with the Europeans, a large number of European travelers turned to the East from that time onward. They traveled eastern territories by mainstream silk and spice trade roads to India and China until the mid- 15th century, i.e. before the conquest of Constantinople. What can be learnt from the important itineraries of this period is the impact of the Black Death on decreased number of religious and business trips in term of travel dates of individuals and different types of delegations to the eastern territories. In other words, review of the date of travelogues writ- ten during the 13th-15th centuries show that there is the relationship be- tween the outbreak of the Black Death and the prosperity of East-West trade routes, including the Persian Gulf area. Table 1 below shows the names, dates, and the travel routes of the most famous travelers who vis- ited during the 13th-15th centuries the Eastern countries, including Iran and the Caucasus. The table demonstrates that in the mentioned period, i.e. before the Black Death, a great number of business and religious trips were taken place from different parts of the Mediterranean and Europe to the East, including Iran, which were unrivaled in terms of the volume of medieval trips. To investigate the relationship between the spread of the Black Death with business trips of Europeans, the outbreak years in the 14th century at important centers of international trade must be considered. Table 1 Names Travel dates Travel routes and destinations Lyon—Bohemia—Poland—Ukraine— John of Pian de 1245-1247 Lower Volga —Karakorum(1246) (Komroff Carpini 1937: 2) Sent by Louis IX of France—Black Sea 1253-55 (1253)— Southern Russia and the Ural William of Rubruck River— Karakorum—in return via Iran, the Caucasus and Anatolia (ibid.: 52) Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 04:05:22PM via free access A.
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